VLD Week 3

Robin: Hey Ah Soong, my name is Robin and I’m here to interview you. So let us start. How do you feel having to leave home and find a new country to live in? What do you feel about moving into another country? Is it hard or easy for you to get used to it?

Ah Soong: Hello Robin, Well I feel really sad because I love Vietnam. I feel very sad of course and knowing that the family is in danger is also very unpleasant. Well I’m starting to get used to traveling.

Robin: How do you feel when Phan Thi Chi tells you that you have to move to another country for safety or not you will go to the New Economic Zone?

Ah Soong: I didn’t feel much because I was raised not in Vietnam. I am just worried about the family. They mean so much to me and I don’t want them to get separated

Robin: How do you feel when you are already near Malaysia and the Malaysian patrol boats didn’t let you guys enter Malaysia because you are refugees?

Ah Soong: I felt really disappointed because it has been a long trip and now they’re not going to let us enter Malaysia. I was already preparing all the things that we need to get out of the boat, but I guess the Malaysian were pretty nice to give us the rice and some fuel.

Robin: Was it hard to find food on the boat? How did you manage everything out?

Ah Soong: Well it was hard. The Malaysian patrol boat gave us some rice. If we’re lucky we eat fish that we caught, but if Phan Thi Chi didn’t get any fish that day we will only eat rice. That’s why we should appreciate every food we have

Robin: Who do you think has most control in the boat?

Ah Soong: Well it’s definitely Captain Cu. I am so grateful that we can have a guy like that on the boat. He knows a lot about the ship and he knows how to steer the boat. The second person that is most in charge of the boat is Quan. He’s more a leader rather than his father. His father only stays there and thinks about all the bad things in life. He is so pessimistic.

Robin: What do the other girls do in the boat and how do you feel about them?

Ah Soong: Well Xuyen likes to help me cooks. She is very helpful. I am so grateful that she is with me right now in the boat. Ly also likes to help. She is a very useful little girl. She will be a very good mother one day. I feel pity with Aunt Binh. She lost her daughter and her husband. She is sad these past few days, but she is helping us clean the boat. I think she is trying to change her life and start a new one.

Robin: Thank you Ah Soong for your time. Now I’m going back to the studio.

Ah Soong: You’re welcome.

VLD Week 2

            It was a tough day. I am on my way to Rach Gia with my uncle Freddy. Once I get there I will wait near the bus station for my mom, my dad and my two brothers. We go two by two. My mom goes to Rach Gia with my big brother, Bernard. My dad goes with my smaller brother. It was a hot day here in Rach Gia and after waiting for around 4 hours all my family member meets up near the bus stop. We are here to get our boat back and start a new life in Malaysia.

            We went to my grandpa’s house. The security said that he is dead and now his boat belongs to the state. My dad was devastated. Everyone was very sad of our lost. My mom and my little brother cried while my dad just stayed there thinking about his dad. I decide to check the boat with my uncle so we can get it back. My dad didn’t want to see the boat because there are too many memories on the boat. Me and my uncle think about a plan to get the boat back.

            We stayed there for about 20 minutes and my uncle thinks it’s best if we go down jetty and get the boat back because it was on low tide. We can cut the rope and release the boat while later the boat will go without turning the engine on. The others can wait near the small beach. We need to do it fast because there are two guards waiting with machine guns in their hands.

            We get back and we had lunch that my mom prepared. I tell the plan to the family. Everyone agreed except my dad. He said it’s too dangerous to go, but my uncle convinced him of letting the plan work. So me and my uncle is the one going under the jetty because me and my uncle are the most agile in the family and we’re not that heavy. My mom lend us her best knife to cut down the rope

            It was getting dark so my uncle and I started the plan. We climbed under the jetty silently and we got to the boat. My heart was beating really loud because this is one of the most dangerous things I’ve ever done in my entire life. We cut the rope and the high tide turning to low tide carries us away. After an hour of just going because of the tide we reached the small beach. Everyone went aboard the boat and we start turning on the engine. Good thing that my uncle is pretty much an engineer so he knows what parts of the boat he can handle. My mom and my little brother were scared while my bigger brother went to sleep because he was exhausted.

            My uncle has been steering the boat all night. When from the storage a huge muscular man comes out and he was shocked. He told us that he used to fight the army. We told him that we are trying to go to Malaysia for a better life. He listened and he agreed to help us along the journey. I thought he was one of the guards and he was going to capture us and put us into jail, but it turns out he also don’t like the army.

            My uncle rest while the captain took over control. He said it will take us about 6 days to get to Malaysia. I think it was a blessing that someone like him suddenly came out and he decides to help our family. My little brother enjoyed everything because he likes the sea. My dad was still devastated for the lost of his father. I guess the old man means a lot to my dad and now we’re just waiting until we reach Malaysia

651 words

VLD Week 1

Part A

            Dear Ariel,

            Hi, I’m afraid I have some sad news for you. I’m going to be leaving Jakarta tomorrow. I am so frustrated. I’m afraid I won’t make any friends. I will miss all my friends so much. Its only because I am Christian they decide to separate us and take all our money. This is really sad. Maybe I can write some letters to you when I get there. I still don’t know where I am going. All my family members will be separated. I can’t believe the government is so cruel. My family has decided to escape. I will miss them so much. I don’t think my family will meet up again. This makes me feel so sad. The government is very mad at my family. Soon they will send some troops to separate us; I will leave in about 5 minutes. Maybe my father made a mistake they can’t forgive. I hope that when I get there things will change, like the government changing their mind and returning my family to Jakarta again. Tell everybody in school that I’m leaving and hopefully I can contact all of you when I get there. I guess we won’t be having fun during break or lunch time anymore. We can’t really spend time together again. I don’t know what to do. The government also decided that they will take our money and my house. It’s not fair. Maybe I will buy a cell phone and contact you. My family is really sad about this whole moving thing. I feel bad for my little brother that during his young age there is a huge tragedy. He also can’t get education in Jakarta anymore. My family is really in a critical condition. I hope God will help and find a path for my family. I need to leave, take care my friend

Sincerely, Robin

314 words

Part B

            I feel like Phan Thi Chi. I would read the letter a million times. I would just stare at it and I will feel so bad because I have to escape. I think I would also crack up because it feels like im leaving a place I really love. I think I would not really talk much just thinking what to do about my life and how to start a new one. I also want everything to changed and think of a plan. I would struggle sleeping that night just thinking about the letter

Project #5 - Biography

I like many people, but out of all the people I like, I like Benjamin Bunawijaya which is my dad most. He was born in Bandung at 23 December 1963. He has one brother and two sisters. I don’t think I want another dad because for me he is the best dad ever.

He lived in Sydney for about 10 years. He graduated from University of New South Wales in 1990. He has a bachelor degree in engineering. After he graduated, he got a job offer in Sydney. The job was to automate Sydney Harbor tunnel. He took the job and completed it. For him that was one of his great achievements.

After he finished automating Sydney Harbor tunnel, his dad called and ask my dad to take over the company my grandpa was running. It was not a big company back then, but now it’s a huge company. He was having lots of problems with the company during 2008. His company was having huge problems. For about four months my dad came home really late. He stopped playing golf for awhile for the sake of the company. He manages to make the company running again, but he got sick many times that year because of working too hard. For him that was one of his many struggles in life

In the year 2009 he started playing golf again. It was his hobby. Every day he gets out from the house to play golf in Cengkareng Golf course. Now he is the Indonesian team captain. Another accomplishment is that he won the title club champion in Cengkareng golf course.

“Benjamin is a very good leader. He always led his coworkers. He always gives to people that are in need like my drivers son that’s sick. He is a man that likes to help” said my cousin. He can get mad sometimes with a good reason, but other than that he’s a good man.

I learn about my dad’s struggles in life which maybe I can face during the future. I also learn about his live in Sydney. I understand why people call him a good leader, which is because he can handle big problems. The last thing I learn is that life is not easy and we have to work in order to get achievements

Project #4 - Alphabiography

A is for Australia, Australia is where I was born and later I will go to Sydney for better education.ive been in Australia since I was born and now almost every year I go back there. There’s my family from my father’s side in Australia, but I’m not close with my family there

B is for billiard, one of my many hobbies is playing billiard. I can play billiard for eight hour straight id there’s a friend to play with. Every week I go to Plaza Indonesia with my friends and play billiard in Q billiard. Aldi my best friend also likes playing billiard. It’s funny that I often made weird dares if someone loses

C is for cartoons, cartoons were the thing I only watch when I was a kid. Cartoons taught me how to speak English when I was still in nursery. One of the cartoons I watch was Spongebob and Dragonball. I miss watching cartoons now. I remember the pirates and the kids in Spongebob “ Aye Captain.”

F is for family, I can’t live without my family. They always support me on everything I do. When I fall down in life they will always pick me up and support me. My family members are really fun to play with and their hobbies are similar with my hobbies.

H is for How I Met Your Mother, in my free times I like watching How I Met Your Mother. It is a very funny film series. It cheers me up every time I watch it. I like how Neil Patrick Harris says “Challenge accepter” or “Legend wait for it Legendary”.

I is for IPEKA, IPEKA is where I’ve been for the past five years. I get most of my friends from IPEKA. I met some awesome new friends in there. I met boring English teachers and nice ones too. I enjoyed their physical education, but I don’t like Chemistry class.

J is for Jakarta, Jakarta is where I grew up. Most of my friends live in Jakarta. I will remember Jakarta forever. Even though Australia is a better country I still like Jakarta because it will be remembered as my childhood memory

O is for October, October 1997 was the date I was born. It is a really special month for me. The star of the month of October is my birthday, how awesome is that. I enjoyed the month October for like 14 years now

P is for parties, I love parties. Partying with my friends late at night makes me enjoy life more. I guess I’ll never miss a single party except there’s an emergency. I love it when my friends have a birthday party

R is for Real Madrid, Real Madrid is my favorite soccer team. They have a striker that’s really good and his name is Ronaldo. He’s one of the reasons I play soccer. He has an award for being best player of the year in 2008. One of his quote is “Every goal is created by the players individual talent”

S is for soccer, soccer is my hobby. It’s like I can’t live without soccer. I love soccer too much. The funny thing is since I was like eight years old I get injuries like for almost every month. I also love collecting soccer jerseys

T is for talking, I like talking with people. I know it’s weird that a boy likes to talk, but when I talk with my friends I feel happy. Maybe because I like socializing, that’s why I always check Twitter or Facebook. Well I’m the talkative boy

Questions:

1. I write my paragraph in a time so it’s random. I enjoyed making this because I talked about my hobbies and things I like. I think I did a pretty good job making my alpha biography. I think I did well on some of the paragraphs. My favorite story is about my favorite soccer team, Real Madrid. I only choose the important ones and leave out the one thing I don’t think it’s important or I forgot.

2. The 3 objective details are there’s a soccer team called Real Madrid. IPEKA is really a school and there’s a good film series called How I Met Your Mother. The 3 subjective details are I think Real Madrid is the best team, Billiard is a really interesting game and I say that Australia is better than Jakarta.

3. I think I did well on being quite descriptive. For me the hardest one is not to use the same letters twice because I think I can use a lot of S such as swimming, sightseeing and slacking etc.

Project #3 - Bible Story

Genesis 22: Abraham tested

                I believe in God and I fear the Lord. I obeyed his every command, until one day he asked me to do something really difficult and sad. Here is the story when God tested me.

            One day God called me. I replied “Here I am”. Then God said “Take your son , your only son, Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about”. I was really sad thinking about my son Isaac that I will kill and offer to God, but I guess it is the right thing to do> god gave me my son and I guess he wants it back.

            The next morning I prepared my donkey and I bring my son Isaac and my two servants. I cut some woods then I set out to the place God has told me about. It took me three days to find the place. I ask my servants to stay here with my donkey and to take care of my donkey so I can go up the mountain with Isaac only. On the way up Isaac asked me “Father, the fire and wood are here, but where is the burnt offering?” I replied “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son. And so we continued walking up the mountain.

            When I finally reach the top of the mountain I made an altar and arrange some woods on it. I bound my son Isaac on top of the woods. I take the knife. My hands were shaking and then when I was about to kill him the angel of the Lord called my name. The angel said “ do not lay your hand on that boy”. The angel told me it’s a test from God. After that he saw a ram, the ram became the sacrifice to God. The last thing the angel told me was I will have descendants more than the sands in the beach. Then I returned to my servants and went to Beersheba

3 questions:

1.      I enjoyed writing this story the only thing I need to do is make it into a first person view. It was nice making this story. I don’t find it hard writing this story. I choose this story because I think it’s a really good story that he would sacrifice his only son because of God. I think I did well on doing this story because it really tells everything and I add some emotions that the bible didn’t tell.

2.      The most difficult thing about writing this story is to make it in my own words. The bible uses way too many words I don’t really use often. Another difficult thing is to put their emotions here because the bible didn’t tell us how Abraham feels.

3.      I enjoyed writing this story because Abraham is my favorite character in the bible. He is a really good man and he fears the Lord. I enjoyed making this story because for me it is interesting rather than Samsons story.

Word count: 354 words

Project #2 - Newspaper Article

Project #1 - Adventure Ad

1The purpose of this ad is to attract families that like theme parks and have some fun. Children will love theme parks this is why I make an ad about theme parks tour.

2One of my language features in my ad is “Love theme parks? Follow our tour” and that is my slogan. When you read that sentence and you love theme parks you will instantly grab that ad and read it for further information. Another language features in my ad is the beach picture with all the logo of the theme parks. I think people will also get attracted by that picture